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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Why we can’t have great trains

National Journal has a new article on this topic (link here)
that offers a pervasively pessimistic appraisal of the chances for high-speed
(or otherwise superior) long-distance rail service in this country.

Having just returned from riding some great trains in
England and France (the following photo of French countryside was taken from a
Eurostar Channel Tunnel train – 2 ½ hours from London to Paris) it’s hard not
to feel discouraged in the U.S.Our
national fumbling around on intercity rail policy is really just a piece with
our fumbling around with any sort of policy that requires some type of national
purpose or direction – not that that’s encouraging.I think we’ll get their some day – hopefully with more
dispatch than the Silver Star.